Cooling fin pipe smoker

ABSTRACT

A cooling find smoker pipe having a plurality of parallel fins spaced apart a predetermined distance on the generally tubular housing of the pipe to cool the tobacco smoke from the pipe when the end user takes a drag on the pipe mouthpiece attached to the housing. The housing comprises a two piece construction of a cap and a tobacco bowl screwed together to form the chamber to fill with tobacco wherein the male threads are located on the exterior of the bowl and the corresponding female threads are located within the cap.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/156,853 entitled “COOLING FIN PIPE SMOKER” filed on Mar. 2, 2009.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to apparatus for smoking, and more particularly relates to apparatus for smoking tobacco and the like through a pipe smoker.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Due to the inherent problems with cigarettes, many tobacco smokers are turning to pipe smoking to avoid the messy rolling of their own tobacco in paper to form the cigarette if they are interested in trying and using different quality tobaccos. There are various pipes made of wood, plastic and other materials having the traditional open bowl with a tube attached thereto to smoke the tobacco inserted into the bowl. Depending upon the design of the pipe, it often is a problem keeping the pipe lit due to wind or drafts with the large open bowls on most pipes.

Also, the uniform packing of the tobacco within the typical open pipe bowl is spotting at best. To overcome this shortcoming, pipe smokers often use different tamping tools in an attempt to get the tobacco evenly tapped down within the bowl so that the tobacco will burn uniform. However, in reality, the tamper often misses areas within the bowl causing uneven burning of the tobacco with a flame that often goes out during the smoking process. Burn outs within the open pipe bowls results in unburned tobacco typically being mixed in with new tobacco before lighting the pipe again. Moreover, the pipe might incur hot spots within the steady burning of the tobacco within the open pipe bowl.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A pipe smoker with cooling fins and an octagonal mouthpiece for the pipe smoker is described herein. In one embodiment of a cooling fin pipe smoker includes a generally elongated tubular housing with a first opening of a predetermined size at a top end in align with the longitudinal axis of the housing and a second opening of a predetermined size at an opposing bottom end in align with the longitudinal axis of the housing to draw out the tobacco smoke when the pipe is lit. The housing includes two parts, an internal bowl for receiving the tobacco and a cap mechanically attached to the bowl to hold the tobacco within the bowl in use. The two part tubular housing formed by the bowl and cap include external parallel fins of a predetermined thickness and spaced apart a generally uniform and predetermined distance from one another on the exterior of the housing perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing when the cap is mechanically attached to the bowl. The fins transfer the heat from within the joined parts of the bowl and cap of the housing when assembled so that the heat is radiated outwardly from the lit tobacco within the pipe to provide a cooling effect when smoking the tobacco within the cooling fin pipe smoker.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cooling fin pipe smoker on a flat surface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded elevation view of the housing separated in two parts of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1, which is the longitudinal axis of the cooling fin pipe smoker of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the invention is described herein with the reference to a number of embodiments and methods of use, it should be understood that the invention should not be limited to such embodiments or uses. The description of the embodiments and uses herein are illustrative only and should not limit the scope of the invention as claimed. Embodiments are presented in the figures, which are not drawn to scale and in which like components are numbered alike.

Apparatus for tobacco smoking within a pipe includes exterior males threads on the outer surface of the bowl end joining the cap and corresponding matching female threads on the interior of the cap providing a mechanical locking of the cap to the bowl once tobacco is inserted within the bowl to fixedly join the bowl and cap together for use. The cooling fins are spaced apart in a parallel relationship with respect to each other and extend outwardly from the outer surface of the bowl and cap a predetermined distance that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe smoker.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a cooling fin pipe smoker 10. As my be seen, the pipe 10 includes a generally tubular housing 12 with exterior fins 14. The exterior fins 14 are spaced apart in a parallel and predetermined distance from each other. The fins 14 are perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 16 of the housing 12. An opening 18 is axially aligned with the tubular housing 12 at a top end of the pipe 10. A mouthpiece 20 is attached to a bottom end 22 without fins 14. The mouthpiece 20 includes an octagonal disk 24 at the end attached to the housing and butts against the last fin on the bottom end 22 of the housing. The mouthpiece 20 tapers downwardly toward the axis of the housing to comfortably fit the lips of the end user. The smoker 10 when placed on a flat surface such as a counter or table top 26 is prevented from rolling off the counter top by the octagonal disk 24 around the circumference of the pipe housing 12.

FIG. 2 shows the housing 12 split into two parts. One part is the tobacco bowl 28 having external male threads 30 on the end adjacent a second part or cap 32. As seen in FIG. 3, the cap 32 includes internal female threads 34 corresponding to the male threads 30 to mechanically lock the cap onto the bowl when the tobacco is inserted into the bowl when the bowl 28 and cap 32 are separated for insertion of the tobacco. The cap 32 is simply screwed onto the external male threads 30 of the housing bowl.

FIG. 3 shows the cross section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 where the opening 18 is axially aligned with an opening 36 at the bottom end 22 of the housing 12. The mouthpiece includes air channel 38 therethrough axially aligned with the opening 36 so that the smoke cooled by the fins 14 can be drawn out of the pipe when lit through the hole 18. A tobacco of choice 40 is stuffed into the bowl 28 and packed by a digit on the end user hand to a firmness that is desired by the end user. Therefore, a uniform and tampered down tobacco within the pipe housing 12 will burn with a better uniformity than other known pipe constructions. Moreover, the outer male threads 30 on the bowl due not accumulate tobacco on them when filling the pipe allowing the cap 32 to be screwed onto the male threads without interference from the tobacco within the bowl 28.

While various aspects of the invention are described and illustrated herein as embodied in one exemplary embodiment, these various aspects may be realized in many alternative embodiments not shown, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the present invention. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects and features of the invention, such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, devices, and so on may be described herein, such description is not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of the aspects, concepts or features of the invention into additional embodiments within the scope of the present invention even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the invention may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative cooling fins and materials such as metal, coated plastic, wood and other materials that are flame retardant may be used to construct the housing 12 and its attendant cooling fins 14 that hold the tobacco and cool the smoke, respectively, therein and thereon and such materials and range of materials may be included to assist in understanding the present invention. However, such constructions and materials are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical constructions or materials only if so expressly stated. 

1. A cooling fin pipe smoker and housing substantially as shown and described.
 2. A fabricated cooling fin pipe smoker housing substantially as shown and described. 